The Alternate
by Thought
Summary: Chakotay finds himself in an alternate reality. plz r/r
1. OkayWhat Just Happened?

The Alternate  
  
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Prologue  
  
Commander Chakotay stared into the rift in horror. "B'Elanna!" he called, "Can you close that thing?!" B'Elanna pushed more buttons on her consul and shook her head. The vortex didn't waver. "I can't!" cried the chief engineer in frustration, "Nothing's working!" Chakotay's vision blurred suddenly and he stumbled forward. "Chakotay! Look out!" cried B'Elanna as he was pulled into the swirling orange light of the anomaly. B'Elanna cried out to him again and tried to grab his hand but she couldn't reach him and he vanished into the light.  
  
Chapter One: Okay.what just happened? B'Elanna cried out to Chakotay as he was pulled into the vortex. She tried to grab his hand but she couldn't reach and he vanished into the swirling orange light. "Chakotay!" she cried out futilely. There was no answer. "Torres to Janeway," she said quietly into her communicator." "Go ahead Lieutenant," came the captain's voice. "Commander Chakotay has vanished into the anomaly. I think he's gone." There was a shocked moment of silence on the other end of the line, then Janeway said softly, "I see." B'Elanna was about to respond when the energy in the vortex spun fiercely and spit out. "Chakotay!" cried B'Elanna in surprised wonder and delight. He stumbled forward and B'Elanna moved to catch him. He gasped. "What happened?" he asked. "You disappeared into that," she pointed at the anomaly, "And then you just reappeared." The door swished open and Seska, looking fully Cardassian, ran in. Chakotay's eyes widened with disbelief and rage. They just about popped out of his head when she ran right up to him and embraced him. "What the." he began. But then the door opened again and a very calm, very alive Kes entered carrying a medkit. Chakotay pushed Seska away and turned to B'Elanna. "What's going on here?!" he demanded. She blinked in surprise, "What do you mean?" she asked in bewilderment. "Kes, and her!" he pointed first to Kes and then to Seska, "They're both dead!" "I think you'd better come to sickbay, Commander," said Kes gently, and to Seska, "You can come too, Lieutenant." "Yes, I will," said Seska quickly. Chakotay looked around at the three women and took in for the first time since coming out of the vortex their uniforms. They were slightly different then his own. "Look at your uniforms." He told them, "Then look at mine. They're different. B'Elanna looked down at herself and then at Chakotay. "He's right," she said in surprise. "Look, I need to talk to Captain Janeway as soon as possible," Chakotay told them, "Maybe she can help a little." "Okay Commander," agreed Kes, "But first you should come to sickbay just to make sure the anomaly didn't do anything to you physically." "All right," he acquiesced. "I'll keep trying to figure out what exactly that thing was," said B'Elanna, "Seska, when you're done in sickbay I could use your help." "Of course," agreed Seska over her shoulder as she followed Kes and Chakotay out.  
  
They reached sickbay and Kes told Chakotay to sit down on a bio bed while she got The Doctor. Seska sat beside him and asked, "In the transporter room you said I was dead." "You are," he said harshly and turned away. "Why do I get the impression that you hate me?" she asked. Chakotay ignored her. "Chakotay!" she grabbed his arm, "Please tell me what's wrong!" He spun on her and the look of intense hatred in his eyes made her move back. "Listen Seska," he hissed through his teeth, "I don't know what you're up to but I won't fall for it!" She stared at him in shocked horror. Tears began to form in her eyes and she dropped her hand from his arm. He could see true hurt and anger in her eyes but he didn't trust her for a second. "You obviously have some things to work out," she said coldly and rose to her feet. "Maybe when you've got your problems worked out you'd be willing to tell me what's going on." And with that Seska stormed from the sick bay. Chakotay stared at the door where Seska had been just a moment before. "O.kay." He muttered to himself. At that moment Kes and The Doctor entered the main area of sick bay. The Doctor headed over to Chakotay and began to scan him with a tricorder. When he was done he pressed a hypo into Chakotay's neck and shrugged. "There seems to be no aftereffects of the anomaly, at least physically," said The Doctor as he returned the tricorder to the tray it had come off of. "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Chakotay, "I'm fine mentally too." The door slid open before The Doctor could reply. Captain Janeway entered and walked straight over to his bed. "Are you all right Commander?" she asked. "Yes Kathryn, I'm fine," he said. She seemed startled by his use of her first name but quickly regained her composure and turned to The Doctor. "Nothing out of the ordinary?" she asked. "He's in perfect health, Captain," replied The Doctor. "Glad to hear it," she said with a fleeting smile and then turned to Kes. "Can I speak to you alone for a minute?" she asked. "Of course, Captain," answered Kes and the two of them vanished into the corridor.  
  
  
  
Seska threw the book she had been trying to read across the room. It hit the opposite wall with a satisfying crash. She had been attempting to read for the last two hours with little success. Getting up, she ordered a glass of water from the replicator and began to pace her.no.their quarters. 'What is wrong with me?' she asked silently, 'I only tried to offer comfort! All I got in return was the cold shoulder! What did I do wrong? Or, was it that energy thing in the transporter room that changed him? Darn the man anyway! I told him to stay with me today. Even the first officer of a star ship needs to take a break! And it was the day after our wedding, for Pete's sake!!!! If he had stayed home I wouldn't even be following this train of thought! If it weren't for his stupid duties he could have been with me when Kes told me! Now, I don't even know if I should tell him.' Her worry and sadness over Chakotay was quickly turning to anger. She threw the empty glass at the wall and it shattered loudly against the bulkhead. Seska put her hand to her stomach and took a slow, deep breath. How was she ever going to tell this twisted, angry version of her husband that she was pregnant?  
  
  
  
More coming soon...I hope...please review. 


	2. Now You Know

Chapter Two "Now you know *****  
  
Chakotay looked around the table at Voyager's senior staff. Sitting at the head of the table was Captain Janeway. He sat to her right and Tuvok to her left. Also at the table were: Tom Paris, Harry Kim, B'Elanna Torres, Kes, The Doctor, Seven Of Nine, Neelix and...his gaze hardened as his eyes fell on the last officer at the table, Seska. She was sitting, back straight, eyes to Captain Janeway, completely ignoring him. Not that he really wanted to have any contact with her but it would be nice to find out what she was doing here. But he wasn't quite sure how to approach this particular task. He still hated her with a passion, he knew that, but the way she had acted in the transporter room when he had come back from that...whatever it was, and then the way she had handled his cold rejection in sickbay made him think that there might be more to this then was plainly clear. But none of these facts bothered him as much as the fact that she was even alive to cause him this confusion. She *was* dead, he knew it. So what could this be? An elaborate holosimulation? An allusion? He could think of any number of strange happenings that could cause what was occurring but none of them seemed quite right. However, he did not have anymore time to reflect on this disturbing turn of events for at that moment Captain Janeway cleared her throat and began to speak. "From what we know about the anomaly in the transporter room," she said, "we could be dealing with one of two things. One: a naturally occurring phenomenon that just happened to appear right in the middle of the ship. Or two: some kind of set-up; by whom we don't know." "I'd go for the second option." said B'Elanna, "From what we know of kind of happening, they don't just appear out of nowhere for no particular reason. But if this was a set-up then that still leaves the question of who put it there and why." Captain Janeway nodded in agreement and looked around the table, her gaze stopping on each face in turn. "Ideas?" she asked. "Well," began Seska nervously, "I was looking at the readings that B'Elanna was able to take before Commander Chakotay was pulled in and I found something interesting. It doesn't help us with the questions of who or why but it might help with the question of what." "Go ahead." said Janeway. "Well, the thing...it seemed to have a different energy then anything in this dimension should be able to possess. In a matter of speaking, it could have lead to a different reality."  
  
A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short but I am having major writer's block. Any suggestions would be greatly apreciated and pretty please review! 


	3. Story

Chapter Three: "Story"  
  
The room fell silent at Seska's words. Chakotay shifted uncomfortably as, slowly, everyone in the room turned their gaze on him. He felt like he was standing on a stage, alone, with the whole galaxy staring at him. Finally Janeway spoke. "So," she began carefully, "If what you're saying is true that could mean that Commander Chakotay might have come from a reality not our own." "Yes Captain." confirmed Seska quietly. "I guess it's possible." admitted B'Elanna, "But there is only one recorded transfer to an alternate reality, by James Kirk in the days of the Original Enterprise. He and some of his senior officers were pulled into a reality where the Federation was an empire and people would kill for a higher rank.literally. Actually, it's not much different then a Klingon ship." "So you are from this reality?" asked Janeway, tensing visibly. "No." Chakotay said firmly, "The reality jump is recorded in my reality just as B'Elanna described it now. Is it possible that I was thrown into another reality?" "Very much so,"said B'Elanna, "In fact it is more likely that you were pulled into a different reality. There might be millions and the chances of you falling into the same one as Kirk are almost zero. But that still leaves the question of how to return you and get our Chakotay back." "I'll go over the sensor readings again." said Seska, rising, "See if there's anything I missed." "I'll help you." said B'Elanna quickly, standing up as well. "Very well." agreed Janeway, "Dismissed." Everyone got up and moved from the room in groups of two or three until Janeway and Chakotay were left alone. Janeway sighed and looked at her first officer. "Well," she said. "Well," he echoed. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Chakotay decided that this was as good a time as any to ask the question that had been bothering him through out the whole meeting. "Captain?" he said, "I wanted to ask you something." "Go ahead." She said, sitting up straight. "It's about Lt. Seska." He swallowed and then continued, "It's just that.well.in my.um.reality, she's.well.dead." Janeway's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Dead?" she asked. "Yes." Chakotay looked away for a moment then plowed on, "She died after a failed attempt to take over Voyager with the help of the Kayzon. And.well.another thing, how long have you known that she is Cardassian?" "We found out about four months after we were stranded out here," explained Janeway, "Kes came to me and told me that Seska hadn't came in for a physical exam yet and we didn't have a sample of her DNA on file. Seska resisted all tests for a while, saying she was too busy or would come by later, but finally she had to. The Doctor found traces of Cardassian DNA in her body and we became suspicious. You see, at about that time, someone on Voyager was spying for the Kayzon. We had discovered a replicator on one of their ships and in a fight they knew our shield modulations and how to get through them. We finally confronted Seska and she told us that she had a disease as a child and had gotten a transfer from an old Cardassian woman but according to The Doctor, that wasn't compatible with what he had found. By then we had narrowed down our list of suspects to Lt. Carry or Seska." "Your story fits mine so far." said Chakotay with a frown. "Finally, we traced the encoded transmissions from Voyager to the Kayzon ship as coming from Seska's personal computer terminal. We caught her and demanded answers. It turned out that about six weeks after we entered the Delta Quadrant, Mage Culluh had contacted Seska and informed her in no unsure terms that if she didn't smuggle him technology from Voyager he would simply take the ship and kill everyone on board. Seska was too scared to refuse and went along with his plans. After that incident we managed to destroy Culluh's ship and Seska was released from all charges. Seska asked to have her Cardassian physiology restored so The Doctor performed the operation and she is how you saw her today." Chakotay drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out again. "I see." Janeway shifted in her chair for a moment and then asked, "Commander, from what I understand, you and Seska, I mean the one in your reality, you didn't exactly part on the best of terms." Chakotay snorted derisively, "That's an understatement," he muttered. "Well just remember, this is just as hard on Seska as it is on you. You see, in this reality, you two just got married yesterday." Chakotay stared at her uncomprehendingly, "You mean, Seska and I.we.I mean.we're." "Yes Commander," smiled Janeway. Chakotay felt his head starting to spin, "If you don't mind Captain, I'd like to go to my quarters now." "Of course," smiled Janeway. Chakotay got to his feet and headed from the room. He walked down the halls, not really concentrating on where he was going. 'Seska and I? Married?!' he thought, the thought was insane! Yet, as he continued to think about it he began to wonder how long he could have kept his relationship with Seska at just friends if she hadn't defected. And then he started to wonder what it would have been like to be in love with Seska again. He reached his quarters and entered. He collapsed on the couch and began to drift off to sleep. The thought never crossed his drowsy mind that married couples normally lived together.  
  
A/N: Well? What do you think? Good? Bad? Should I continue? As always, Please review! And thanks to those who did review! It's truly appreciated! 


	4. These Are My Quarters!

Chapter Four: "These Are My Quarters!"  
  
Seska pushed a stray lock of black hair out of her face and rubbed her eyes tiredly. B'Elanna glanced over at her friend and frowned. "You look tired."  
  
"No.I'm fine." Said Seska (A little more sharply then she had intended) and turned back to her computer consul.  
  
"Well," sighed B'Elanna, downing the last of her now cold coffee, "You can stay up the rest of the night and pass out on duty tomorrow, but I'm going to bed."  
  
"Good night." Said Seska, "I'll just finish up hear and then I'll go to bed, I promise."  
  
B'Elanna laughed and stood up. "Well then, good night Seska."  
  
"Night B'Elanna."  
  
B'Elanna turned and walked from engineering. Seska sighed and began to close down her terminal. They had found nothing past what she had already gotten earlier. She still had no idea what kind of reality Chakotay came from or how to return him to it. A disturbing thought crossed her mind, 'what if we can't send him back?' she wondered. 'what if he's stuck hear forever?'  
  
She got up, still harboring these thoughts as she left engineering. She took the turbo lift to the deck on witch her quarters were located and punched in the passcode to open the door. The sight that greeted her when she entered made her stop and stare. There, lying on the couch was none other then the object of her thoughts for the last six hours. He lay on his back, snoring gently. In that one moment he reminded her so much of her Chakotay that she almost broke down in tears. But then she realized that if she broke down every time she was near this duplicate of her husband she wouldn't be much use to anyone. After that thought her Cardassian instincts kicked in. She tiptowed over to the replicator and whispered, "One bucket of ice water."  
  
The requested item appeared in the slot and she carefully lifted it and turned back to the man on the couch. Smiling evily she moved gracefully towards him, her training in the Obsidean Order making her footsteps silent and her breathing inodible. She reached the couch and stared down at the face of her uninvited guest. With one swift movement she upended the whole bucket of freezing water on his face and upper chest.  
  
"AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!" he cried, his eyes flying open, "What the.?" he sat up, water dripping from his face and hair. He flung out an arm in the almost darkness and it connected solidly with the blade of one of her knives, witch had been sitting on the end table from her practise a few days before. He gasped in pain as the blade slashed the back of his hand. Luckily the blade had just grazed the skin and not even caused bleeding but it still must have hurt emencely, for Chakotay was staring at the hand in bewildered shock.  
  
Seska stood back, hands on hips, not even bothering to hide the smile on her face. "Mind telling me why you're in my quarters?" she asked coolly.  
  
"These are my quarters!" he shouted at her in rage, "And you have no right to come barging in hear in the middle of the night and try to murder me!"  
  
"I didn't try to murder you!" snapped Seska, anger beginning to replace her amuzement.  
  
"Oh.I'm sure." He snarled, "And the Borg Queen is coming for tea tomorrow afternoon, and the Vedians are planning to donate to a Blood Bank, and Q has decided, out of the kindness of his heart, to send us home. I don't believe a word you say, Cardassian, I never will again. It was a mistake to even let you on my ship. I should have seen the deception right away and killed you on the spot. I wish I had never met you! Do you have any idea at all of what it was like, thinking I was a fauther? Do you have any idea what it was like knowing that one of my most trusted friends and supporters was the exact thing I had been fighting!? And to top it off you had to be my lover! I don't think you have any idea of the torture that I could have saved myself if I'd never met you! So, now, please, get, out."  
  
Seska just stood for a moment, stunned by the force of his words. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks but she wiped them away angrily. "And while you're at it," she snarled, "Why don't you wish that you'd never joined the Maquis, that you'd never met that friend at the Acadomy who got you involved. Yeah. And why don't you wish that the Cardassians hadn't wiped out your people. Wish that you had never wanted to leave your people for Star Fleet in the first place! That would make the universe a lot nicer place wouldn't it Chakotay? If all you had to worry about was how to prove yourself to your fauther? That would make things a lot simpler. But answer me this, do you like the man you are today? And if you do, think about this. With out the hardships you have endured, you wouldn't be that man you are today. You wouldn't have met Captain Janeway and her crew. You wouldn't have met The crew of The Liberty. You would have never met me.." Seska broke off as she remembered that just a few moments before he had wished for that exact event. Fresh tears began to flow down her cheeks and she made no attempt to wipe them away. Her body shook with sobs and she crumpled to the ground crying.She let all the frustration of the last hours pour out of her.  
  
After a while she looked up, right into Chakotay's eyes. He knelt down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. He held her silently until she couldn't cry anymore. Then he lifted her exhausted body into his arms and entered the bedroom. He lay her down on the bed, still fully clothed and gentley kissed her on the forhead before walking out. He continued out of the quarters and down the hall towards a turbo lift. He needed time to think over what had just happened.  
  
He didn't realize where he was going until he stood outside the doors of the messhall. It would most likely be closed at this hour but he approached the doors anyway. To his surprise they opened without protest and he entered. The room was dark, making it hard to see.  
  
"Computer." He called, "Lights." Immeedietely the room was bathed in light and he was surprised to see that he wasn't alone.  
  
"Kes." He said in surprise as his eyes fell on the calm features of the Ocompa. She smiled at him and gestured for him to sit down.  
  
"I thought you would come hear." She said quietly, "I senced that you were verry disturbed after the meeting."  
  
"With good reason." Chakotay sat down in the chair across from Kes, "I've just found out that I am no longer in my own reality and my worst enemy is my wife."  
  
"Yes." Kes nodded, "I thought I could sence some kind of hostility directed at Seska from you. Actually, you don't need to be a telepath to deduce that something is different between you two. What did she do to you?"  
  
"I'd really rather not talk about it if you don't mind?"  
  
"Of course." Smiled Kes, "Would you like some tea?"  
  
"Yes, that would be verry nice please." Smiled Chakotay.  
  
Kes lifted her hand and to Chakotay's amazement, a pot and two cups sored out of the kitchen to land softly on the tabletop.  
  
Kes noticed him staring and asked, "Can the Kes in your universe not do that?"  
  
"Well, actually," began Chakotay, "The Kes in our universe left slightly after Seven Of Nine joined the crew in search of higher things. We only saw her once after that and it's not something I know mutch about. Tuvok and Captain Janeway were verry secretive about it."  
  
"I left Voyager?!" Kes wore a look of shock and horror, "But you are like my family! What could drive me to leave?.Well.maybe Seven Of Nine but even she couldn't make me abandon my friends."  
  
"Well," Chakotay chose his words carefully, "You didn't really have a choice in the matter. You were being overwhelmed by the powers you suddenly possessed. You soon couldn't hold your corporial form and became a being of pure energy."  
  
Kes stared in awe  
  
"I take it that's not quite the way things happened hear." Said Chakotay.  
  
"No. I believe I know the time to witch you refer but in this reality, I managed to control my powers and eventually home them and use them as a tool."  
  
"That's another thing." Said Chakotay, "You people said that there had only been one trip to an alternate reality in history and yet you talk about them like they're an everyday occurrence."  
  
"Well," sighed Kes, "I suppose that's what happens when we have two Q as part of the crew and another dating our Captain."  
  
"I'm not even going to ask." Said Chakotay firmly as he got up, "Now, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me, the couch is sounding more inviting then it did a few minutes ago." And with that he left the room.  
  
A/N: Well? What do you think? I'm really having a hard time figuring out what to do w/ this story so I'm sorry if I'm not updating frequently. One of my reviewers said I needed to fix the formatting and I tried. It's just that I'm blind and my screen reader isn't good with helping me format stuff, but I hope this is better. And as for a beta reader.the only person who will do it for me is my Mom but she's verry busy so this chapter went up with out her invaluable help. Thanks!  
  
A/N2: I have fallen back on some of the events in Jerry Taylor's book "Pathways" in this chapter. It's a really good book! 


	5. Conversation

Chapter Five: "Conversations"  
  
Captain Janeway collapsed into a soft chair and cicked off her shoes as soon as she entered her quarters. It had been a really long day, starting with the strange vortex in the transporter room and ending with a duplicate of her first officer, most likely from an alternate reality, and no plosible way to send him home and retrieve their Chakotay. She had consumed over ten cups of coffee, (something which The Doctor wouldn't be to happy with), and yet she was still exhausted. She hadn't eaten all day and she forced herself to rise to her feet and cross her room to the replicator located on the other side. She was about to order a salad when a popping sound from behind her made her spin around in surprise. Standing behind her, Q smiled cheerfully.  
  
"Hello Kathy!" he cried, sweeping her into his arms.  
  
She allowed herself to lean into his embrase and smiled up at him.  
  
"Where have you been?" she asked.  
  
"Oh.here and there." He said vaguely.  
  
She pulled back and mockn glared at him, "That's not the answer I was looking for." She said in her best Captain's voice.  
  
He laughed and she couldn't help the laughter which bubled up from inside her. She turned back to the replicator and ordered her salad. Taking the dish from the slot she moved to sit beside Q on the couch. Curling her feet up underneath her she began to eat hungrily.  
  
"So I heard you have a visiter." Said Q after a while.  
  
Janeway nodded an afirmitive with out looking up from her plate.  
  
"Have you gotten any closer to finding a way to send him home?" asked Q.  
  
This time Janeway glanced up at him with annoyance, "You can send him back.' She snapped.  
  
Q shook his head appoligeticly, "I'm sorry Katheryn, I'm not allowd to mess around with alternate realities."  
  
"Why not?!" she demanded.  
  
"Long story." He answered.  
  
She rolled her eyes and returned to eating. A few silent minutes passed with both of them caught up in their own thoughts. Suddenly Q said, "He's in love with you know?"  
  
Janeway's head shot up. "Who?"  
  
"Chakotay. The one from the other reality. He's in love with your counterpart."  
  
"Oh my God!" cried Janeway, "Chakotay.and.me?."  
  
"No," Q assured her, "He hasn't gotten up the nerve to tell her yet."  
  
"How do you know if you can't go into alternate realities?" she demanded.  
  
"The continuum forbad me from effecting the realities, not watching them. They're two very different things."  
  
Janeway stared at Q for a long minute and then she rose to her feet and dropped her plate in the recycler. Turning toward her bedroom she said a short good night to Q. She entered her room and the doors closed behind her. Q waited until she had had enough btime to change and then tapped on the door. Receiving permission to enter he walked in to find her already in bed. He walked over to her and leaned down, "I love you." He said quietly.  
  
She looked up at him for a minute then whispered, "I love you too."  
  
He straightened and vanished in a flash of light, leaving Janeway to sleep. 


	6. Meanwhile

Chapter 6: "Meanwhile."  
  
A/N: In reading my reviews, (which, by the way, are all wonderful to receive), I realized that I had completely left out the other Chakotay. For this I am very sorry and this chapter is for everyone who was wondering what had happened to him.that is, if there's still anyone reading this.  
  
***  
  
Chakotay stared across the table at the woman who was, and yet wasn't Captain Janeway. It had been approximately sixteen hours since his disappearance and subsequent reappearance in the transporter room. When he had reappeared, however, he began to notice minute differences in the way the crew was acting. The larger inconsistancies had begun appearing when he had gone to engineering to find Seska, and upon his arrival, had found that she wasn't there. This in itself was not so unusual, but B'Elanna's reaction when he had asked about Seska's whereabouts had been extremely unexpected. A look of disgust, mixed with something that might have been sadness, had crossed her face and then she had suggested that he go see the Doctor. He had gone along with this course of action, but when he arrived in sickbay he got another surprise. The Doctor was there alone, working on some project or other. Kes was nowhere to be seen, and this bothered Chakotay, for he clearly remembered giving Kes all Beta shifts that week. He had inquired where Kes was and the Doctor had looked away uncomfortably. Then he told Chakotay to sit on a biobed while he scanned him. He never answered his question about Kes.  
  
What the Doctor found, however, had been the most shocking revelation of the day. He informed Chakotay and Janeway, (whom he had called down to sickbay before agreeing to tell him anything), that Chakotay's brain waves were on a slightly different frequency then the rest of the crew's. There were minor differences in regard to his physical details as well. After a long debate, it was decided that this Chakotay must be from a different reality than their own.  
  
So here he was, sitting in the mess hall staring across the table at the woman who was his captain, and yet a total stranger. He was also on his seventh cup of coffee, which might have had something to do with the fact that when he had been called to the transporter room to look at the anomaly it nearing his sleep cycle. It also didn't help that he hadn't slept at all in the sixteen hours he had been here. He smiled slightly to himself, wondering if he would break the captain's record of coffee drinking before this was over. The smile vanished, however, when Janeway glared at him.  
  
"Do you find something amusing, Commander?" she asked.  
  
"No, Captain," he assured her hurriedly.  
  
"Good," she snapped, "because I can't find anything funny about our situation."  
  
"Of course not," he said quickly.  
  
Her face softened, and her voice, when next she spoke, was gentler. "Chakotay, I know that you want to get back to your reality, and I assure you that, if all possible, we will try to make that happen, but I think you should start considering the possibility that you might be stuck here. If we can't send you back, you're going to have to try to," she shuddered at the next words, "replace our Chakotay."  
  
"I have every confidence in this crew, Captain," he said firmly, "I know that they will find a way to send me back and get your Chakotay back."  
  
"Yes," she agreed, "But, if they can't.this ship needs you, this crew needs you.I need you."  
  
His eyebrows shot up at this last statement. "*You*?" he demanded.  
  
She dropped her eyes to the table, refusing to meet his gaze. "A captain can't function without a first officer." she said quickly.  
  
"That's not what you meant." He persisted, leaning across the table, trying to catch her eye, "Tuvok could just as easily be your first officer.you said that you need me."  
  
She continued to study the table, not saying anything. Before Chakotay could think of anything to say, Janeway suddenly looked up from the table and fixed upon him a hard, impersonal gaze.  
  
"You can go now, I need to think about our problem alone. Thank you for joining me."  
  
Her tone was flat and colorless. Chakotay, feeling dazed and confused, got up and made his way to the door. Upon reaching it, he turned and said, "Kathryn, if there is anything I can do to help..."  
  
She cut him off mid-sentence. "Thank you," she said simply.  
  
Once alone, Janeway tried to concentrate on their immediate problem, but her mind kept traveling back to Chakotay. The look in his eyes, the way he smiled, she felt somehow drawn to him, as if he were her Chakotay. She loved everything about him.  
  
She quickly shook herself awake from her dream-like musings. 'What am I thinking?' she thought to herself. She found her eyes searching the wood of the table top once more, possibly for the answers she did not know. But even as she pondered her fascination with Chakotay, she knew deep down that it would never be possible. He was obviously in love with his version of Seska. A feeling of hatred flowed through her thinking of the Cardassian who had betrayed her trust, and more importantly, that of her first officer. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain that the thought of Chakotay and Seska together brought on.  
  
Finally, she managed to pull herself together. Silently, she chastised herself for harboring such thoughts about her first officer. She had, however, come to one conclusion: she felt nothing for this version of Chakotay. If she ever had the courage to tell Chakotay how she really felt, it would be the Chakotay whom she had slowly, but inexorably fallen in love with, not a carbon copy of him. And with that thought in mind, she headed off to see how B'Elanna was doing on finding a way to send him back.  
  
A/N: Before you say anything, I know that Janeway was probably waaaaayyyyy out of character. For this I'm sorry, and I'll try to stick to her personality more for the rest of the fic, but I'm not a really big Janeway fan, (no offense to those who are), so I am not really good at writing her.  
  
Thanks go out to Heather, who helped tremendously with this chapter when I had writer's block, even though she knows nothing about Star Trek. 


	7. Confrentation

A/N: Considering my computer is stupid, I'm going to thank Audrey for betaing chapter six hear. And hear's chapter seven. Now, please, please review?  
  
Chapter Seven: "Confrentation"  
  
Seska slowly blinked awake. She was lying on her bed, in her quarters, still dressed in her uniform from the previous day. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there, in fact, the last thing she could remember from last night was. She groaned and wondered if it would be worth getting up that day, for the last thing she remember was breaking down and crying in front of the alternate Chakotay. What had she been thinking?! He obviously didn't love her, no, he hated her! How could she have shown such weakness in front of someone she hardly new? All these questions, and more, spun about in her mind, all coming to one, very important question: What would she tell Chakotay when she got up? She could hope that he wasn't awake yet, or stay in bed until he was gone. If she did see him, she could ignore him, pretend he didn't exist. This decided, she slowly rose from her bed and headed for her shower.  
  
She came out fifteen minutes later, changed into a new uniform and headed out of the bedroom. He hadn't left. No, he was still there, and sitting on the sofa sipping a cup of coffee. That didn't bother her as much as what he held in his other hand. It was one of the knives she used to practice on the holodeck with. He was examining it with a thoughtful, almost sad expression on his face. She darted forward, grabbing the knife from his hand angrily.  
  
"How dare you go through my things?!" she demanded.  
  
"I wasn't. It was just sitting on the table there." He gestured at the end table beside the sofa.  
  
"Well, it's mine and you had no right to touch it." She snapped.  
  
"Sorry." He said calmly, "I didn't know it was so important to you."  
  
Seska winced inwardly. The truth was, the knife wasn't that important to her. It wasn't the fact that he had touched something important to her, it was the fact that he had touched something of hers at all. The man who sat before her looked so much like her husband, that it was painful just to look at him. The thought of this man just coming into her.their quarters, and looking at her things like they were his own bothered her to no end.  
"I wasn't prying." He said softly, "I was just interested. I think my Seska would have liked it."  
  
"Really?" She was curious despite of herself.  
  
"Well, you two are basically the same person."  
  
Anger flared up in her, "No! I'm nothing like her. I would never hurt you.I mean, my Chakotay."  
  
"So you would hurt me?" his eyes caught and held her gaze with an intensity that made her shiver.  
  
"For all I know, you could be some kind of trick. Some type of alien trying to infiltrate the crew. If you are that, then yes, I'd have no qualms about hurting, maybe even killing you."  
  
He didn't back down, "But if I truly am who I say I am, would you hurt me?"  
  
She stared at him, desperately wishing for a diversion. He reached out, taking one of her hands in his own, drawing her to sit beside him on the sofa. Her mind was a frenzy of distorted images. She loved her Chakotay and would never do anything to harm him, but this wasn't her Chakotay. This was a man who hated her, who thought of her as a traitor to Voyager and her crew. But she was, or at least someone very much like her was. Which brought around the question that had sparked the whole thing: Was she so unlike this other Seska?  
  
She was saved answering by the red alert sirens blaring throughout the ship. The Captain's voice came over their communicators, "Red alert, unidentified alien ship approaching with weapons charged. All hands to battle stations."  
  
They were both on their feet within a second, and running for the door. 


	8. Red Alert, eh?

The Alternate  
  
Disclaimer: OOO, guess what? I. Don't. own. Star Trek!!! Shocked? Yeah, me neither.  
  
A/N: OMG! I am *very* hyper, and, so, for no apparent reason, I have decided to write another chapter to this story. There's still no guarantee that I'll finish it, but you never know! Oh, and if anyone likes X-Men, you might wanna check out my fic 'Lesser Of Two Evils'! I'll give you a cookie if you review it! *puppydog eyes*  
  
A/N2: This chapter takes place on our normal Voyager.  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
"Harry!" came his mother's voice over the crowded shuttle bay of Deep Space 9.  
  
"Hi, Mom!" he yelled back, smiling from ear to ear. They ran to each other and embraced, laughing and crying with happiness.  
  
"I'm so glad you made it home." Said his mother softly, drawing back.  
  
"Me too. I missed you, Mom." He told her.  
  
Just then an alarm rang out over the station. "Red alert! All hands to battle stations!" Harry looked up at the red alert lights flashing on the wall.  
  
"I wonder what's going on?" he said, turning back to his mother. However, instead of his mother, Seven of Nine stood by his side.  
  
"We must go to Engineering to make sure that Neelix doesn't liquefy the plasma manifolds with the Captain's coffee." She told him. Fear gripped him, and he joined her in running through the station to get to engineering.  
  
"Red alert. Red alert. Red alert." The warning continued. The noise of the alarms was making it hard to hear the Doctor, who was explaining to he and Seven what to do. Reaching out, he struck out at the nearest flashing panel. Instead of solid metal, however, his hand only encountered soft, unresisting blanket. Jerking awake, Harry Kim stared around himself in confusion. It had been a dream, he realized. They hadn't ever made it home. Dejectedly, he fell back into his bed.  
  
"Red alert." He jerked upright.  
  
'Of course!' he thought, jumping out of bed and pulling on his uniform. 'That must have been what woke me!' He was dressed in record time, suffering no more than a stubbed toe in his rush, and on his way to the bridge at a run. Reaching the turbolift, he saw the doors closing on Tom Paris. "Hold the door!" he yelled, racing towards the blond pilot. Tom punched a button, and the doors drew back, allowing Harry admittance.  
  
"Bridge." Commanded Paris, and the doors slid shut.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Harry, as the lift began to move.  
  
"I know as much as you." Shrugged Tom. "I just heard the alert and figured it might be a good idea to get to the bridge."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "No, ya think?"  
  
Tom grinned. Harry had the sudden urge to pound his head into a wall.  
  
Arriving on the bridge, the two men moved off to their respective stations, and waited to find out just what was so urgent that they were called up to the bridge at 03:00 hours.  
  
"The ships are closing," came Tuvok's level voice.  
  
"For those of you who just got here," Janeway directed a pointedly annoyed glance at Paris and Kim. "We have just detected two hostile ships approaching Voyager's location. They know we're here, and they're not happy."  
  
"Do we know who they are?" asked Tom.  
  
Janeway nodded. "From what our scans can determine, the ships belong to Species 8472."  
  
There! A cliffhanger! Mwhahahahaha! Pretty pretty please review! I'm begging you here! As I said, this story may not be finished, especially now that I've got my X-Men fic going, but if anyone reviews, it'll greatly increase the chances of completion!!!  
  
Oh, and a really big thank you to anyone who has reviewed this already! *huggles* Your encouragement really helped!  
  
*Thought* 


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